A wide variety of known medical devices can be implanted within a patient's body to provide interventional or remedial treatments. Stent graft devices can be implanted in patients to treat various medical conditions or to treat weak points, known as aneurisms, in the vasculature of a patient. For example, stent graft devices are implanted within a patient to treat an aneurysm in a blood vessel. In another example, stent graft devices are implanted within a patient to seal an opening within the wall of a body lumen (e.g., GI tract) or organ. In a further example, stent graft devices are implanted within a patient to treat a body lumen that has a stricture, such that the device opens or enlarges a fluid flow pathway through the body lumen.
Once deployed to the desired position within a patient, the ongoing efficacy of implantable devices can often depend on their ability to remain in an approximately fixed position relative to the surrounding tissue. For example, an occlusion device implanted to occlude or close an aperture should maintain its proper position relative to the tissue surrounding the aperture, or it may fail to close the aperture. Similarly, a stent graft device deployed in the location of a stricture should remain in the location of the lumen stricture to create or enlarge an open passageway for fluid flow.
In addition, it may be desirable for the medical device to be removed once the intended therapy or treatment is completed. Removal of such devices may be difficult due to tissue growth into and around the medical device. Thus, there exists a need in the art for a medical device that can be used in intraluminal or transluminal applications for the fully intended term of therapy and which can be removed with minimal trauma to the surrounding tissue and to the patient once the therapy is complete.